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UU World reports from the annual General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Click here for a comprehensive guide to our 2011 General Assembly coverage.
[Corrected 7.6.11:] As a final act, GA delegates approved three responsive resolutions at the close of the Sunday afternoon business session and reaffirmed a responsive resolution approved last year.
The first, by the Rev. Michael Tino of the UU Fellowship of Northern Westchester, in Mount Kisco, N.Y., celebrates New York state’s approval of marriage equality this week [...]
After impassioned debate on the future of Actions of Immediate Witness at Unitarian Universalist Association General Assemblies, delegates overwhelmingly voted in favor of a bylaw amendment that would eliminate AIWs at the 2012 Justice GA in Phoenix. The amendment also reconstitutes AIWs with the 2013 GA, reducing the allowable number of AIWs to three from six.
An amendment that would have eliminated AIWs from the GA agenda with no provision to restore them failed. It was the first of the two AIW amendments under consideration by the delegates. It needed a two-thirds majority of delegates to pass. However, 508 voted in favor and 406 delegates voted against, short of the two-thirds needed.
Continue reading Delegates vote to eliminate AIWs at 2012 Justice GA
By Dan Harper in General Assembly 2011 June 25, 2011 at 8:24 pm 
Before the Rev. Peter Morales, president of the UUA, began his report to the General Assembly on Saturday, he held up a copy of today’s local newspaper with a large photo of Friday’s public witness event. “Anybody see the front page of the Charlotte Observer?” he said. The convention hall erupted with applause and cheering.
Protesting anti-illegal immigration laws in Arizona
“Before I became your president,” he said, “I was a law abiding citizen. I had never been arrested. But last year, about a month after GA, I, along with Susan Frederick-Gray and other ministers and lay people, was arrested down in Arizona in an act of civil disobedience to protest egregious acts which were violating basic human rights.”
“It was a real education for me,” Morales said of spending the night in jail. “Because I witnessed not only the dehumanizing effect of that reign of terror on Latino people in Arizona, but I saw the dehumanizing effects it has on those who are enforcing those laws.” He said the jailers were “hardened, dehumanized” by enforcing Arizona’s anti-immigration laws.
Continue reading Morales: Our most important product must be ‘acts of love’
A good part of Saturday afternoon’s plenary was devoted to a discussion about what General Assembly 2012 in Phoenix might be like. Bottom line: a task force has been created to determine that, and a lot is not yet known. But it was made clear that whatever happens will happen with the guidance and direction of immigrant rights groups in Arizona.
The Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, senior minister at the UU Congregation of Phoenix, is a leader of the task force. Saturday she led off the GA 2012 discussion, encouraging people to come to Phoenix next year. Noting that several hundred UUs went to Phoenix last July 29 when the anti-illegal immigration law SB 1070 went into effect, she said, “Now we are all invited, to make an even bigger difference.”
Continue reading Phoenix GA: ‘Awaken the moral conscience of our country’
The Unitarian Universalist Association Board of Trustees held a workshop Friday afternoon inviting people to share their concerns and ideas for the 2012 Justice General Assembly in Phoenix, Ariz.
About 80 people gathered at the “UUA Board Conversation Space: Planning for Phoenix 2012” session. A steady stream of people stood at the microphone to offer words of caution, inspiration, and hope.
“As we begin into our second year of visioning and action, what does the board need to know with respect to accessibility, safety, and accountability at GA 2012?” asked Nick Allen, youth trustee-at-large.
The board members did not offer answers to the many questions that were posed. However, they assured people that they were listening carefully. The Rev. Jake Morrill, trustee from the Southeast District, said the board would “digest and consider” all the information and would engage in dialogue and broadcast answers.
Continue reading Board seeks input on 2012 Justice GA
Young adults at General Assembly from UU World on Vimeo.
It’s day two of General Assembly! This morning I talked with Hilary Allen and Greg Buckland about their GA experience so far. This is Allen’s first GA and Buckland’s eighth. We discussed the history of YRUU (the denominational youth organization [...]
In the scramble to wrap up our coverage of the 2010 General Assembly, UU World published reports on three of the four proposed Responsive Resolutions presented during Sunday afternoon’s final plenary, but didn’t publish a report on the fourth. Here it is:
Delegates affirmed a Responsive Resolution concerning the 2012 General Assembly in Phoenix, Ariz., offered by [...]
The pre-GA meeting of the UUA Board of Trustees in Minneapolis started off with a tense and sometimes emotional discussion about the nature of the relationship between the board and UUA President Peter Morales. At its Tuesday, June 22, meeting, the board noted that after it had placed a business resolution on the agenda of this year’s [...]
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